THERE WERE TRIES aplenty in the 11th round of the Women’s All-Ireland League this weekend. Cooke, Railway Union, Old Belvedere and UL Bohemians all recorded big bonus point wins and ran in scores from all angles, writes Michael Gallagher.
Cooke 34-5 Highfield, Shaw’s Bridge
Cooke made it back-to-back home wins to cement their place in the top four – a full 17 points clear of Blackrock in fifth. Jemma Jackson booted two early penalties to get the Belfast side on the board, and they duly opened their try account having stayed on the front foot and barely left the Highfield 22.
Possession via another penalty award was snapped back on the blindside, giving powerful prop Ilse van Staden the chance to get over the whitewash and leave it 11-0 at the break. Jackson’s third successful penalty opened the scoring in the second half, followed by some excellent interplay and van Staden’s second try out wide.
The hosts were clearly on top at that stage and pushed on with Emma Jordan and Vicky Irwin both dotting down. Highfield hit back with a try of their own in the final quarter, but Cooke had the final say when Cavan dual-status player Dolores Hughes crashed over out wide. Cooke’s confidence will be up for next week’s All-Ireland Cup match against the same opposition.
Railway Union 48-0 Blackrock, Park Avenue
Railway Union cut loose on home turf to put south Dublin rivals Blackrock to the sword in a 48-0 whitewash. The home side ran in eight tries and dominated the encounter from the first whistle to last in a performance full of free-flowing rugby.
Ireland Sevens international Niamh Byrne crossed for two tries while Emma Taylor, Aoife Maher, Siobhan McCarthy, Sinead Taylor, Meaghan Kenny and Emer O’Mahony scored one a-piece. Sinead Taylor added four conversions while Railway’s miserly defence also prevented ‘Rock from scoring.
This was a terrific display from second-placed Railway and the return of Sinead Taylor to the starting XV was instrumental in their success. The Irish Army captain’s kicking was excellent and her pace caused the ‘Rock defenders all sorts of problems. Blackrock will be very disappointed with their all-round performance and will go back to the basics on the training pitch this week.
Tullamore 0-36 Old Belevedere, Spollanstown
There was a swagger in the step of Old Belvedere as they left Spollanstown with all five points following a 36-0 victory. The Dubliners blitzed bottom side Tullamore and produced some spectacular rugby in a game in which the hosts never really got out of the blocks.
Belvedere were almost constantly on the front foot with the excellent Ellen Murphy putting Tullamore under pressure and guiding her team-mates into the right areas of the pitch where they could execute their attacking plays.
Murphy was backed up impressively by full-back Elise O’Byrne-White whose fast counter-attacking play won a lot of yards. Hooker Jennie Finlay’s efficient work around the fringes also caught the eye as she cleaned up around the rucks in both attack and defence.
Honourable mention must also go to noted flanker Linda Djougang who impressed for the entire 80 minutes at loosehead prop. She showed a lot of potential going forward and it was hard to believe this was her first day playing in the front row.
‘Belvo head coach Josh Brown was delighted with the performance and results, saying: “It’s always a positive to have a clean sheet and we achieved that today. We implemented our defensive systems well in preparation for our upcoming clash with Railway Union (on February 17).”
O’Byrne-White led the scoring with two tries, while Steph Barman and Jane O’Neill also crossed the whitewash. The winners also got a penalty try when a well-executed kick-through from Nora Stapleton sent Jenny Murphy racing through but just as she was about to drop on the ball, she was tackled and the referee had no option but to award the score.
Galwegians 5-53 UL Bohemians, University of Limerick 4G pitch
Can anyone stop UL Bohemians? That is the question being asked after the defending champions and current table toppers blazed a path past Galwegians, winning 53-5 in the end. The match was moved from Galway to Limerick due to poor weather in Galway and Bohemians made full use of their home facilities.
The Red Robins ran in nine tries in a game which was much more competitive and physical than the final scoreline suggests. Aine Staunton and Laura Sheehan both recorded memorable hat-tricks while Gillian Bourke, Edel Murphy and Erin Coll also crossed the whitewash.
This was an tremendous display of rugby from the title holders and reinforces their drive to keep the league trophy down south. Galwegians will be very disappointed with such a heavy defeat and would have been closer but for some excellent, aggressive defensive play from UL who held up their opponents on the try-line on a number of occasions.
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Leinster need on of the young looseheads to push past Healy. Porter needs the back up. Who Leo picks at 10 will be intriguing. Surely it’s time to move on from Ross Byrne and probably Harry. Frawley and prendergast are the better bets for me. Tighthead even with Slimani seems a little light. Clarkson showed improvement last season but struggled at times in the scrum. Where will Osbourne play this season? He’s too good to be sitting on a bench.
@Kevin: agree in pecking order with Frawley and Prenderghast but would keep Ross very much involved. He’s had his first real season as starting 10, he may come back stronger this year and surprise us
If they don’t win silverware this season, they’ll never shake the tag of being bottlers
@5sZl1dX2: Clown
@5sZl1dX2: sure they said the same about munster
@Fagin Strauss: what have I said that’s incorrect?
@J M: I’ll let you in on a little secret, Munster won silverware more recently than Leinster within the IRFU subsiding the squad. Munster didn’t bottle a home Champions Cup final when they were 17-0 up either
@5sZl1dX2: the tag,you mean your tag? I’m really looking forward to another season of Leinstertaiment, we are box office
No surprise that 3 of the year 1 intake out of 10 are props given the new ban on foreign signings. This kinda justifies Humphries’ decision. TH looks to be a real area of weakness again and beyond JGP there is a worry. But no club team assembles a squad without imperfections and I’m looking forward to another exciting season. 3 barren seasons help you to appreciate the journey and enjoy the ride!
@Paul Ennis: Interesting to see that Murray has Frawley down as an out half… Woudl imagine if Leo made the list he’d be a 12 or 15.
@Thesaltyurchin: I think that Leo has already hinted that his mind has changed on Frawley. I also think that the choice of captain has come with more than just a little influence from Mr Farrell and Mr Humphries (and maybe even Mr Nienaber). Whilst he has always been his own man, his confidence must have taken a battering last year and he will have no choice but to tow the line in terms of selection this year.
Some talent same with all 4 sides great stuff murray
They will get to the final and lose again.
Intrigued by the direct induction of young Gabriel to the Academy straight from school. Although born in Austria, will he feature at U19s/20s next year? Given how they are stacked with 10s, they must see something special there.
Even the ambiguity in which Murray ranks the players in each position (sometimes by experience in caps, sometimes by age) demonstrates the challenges that Leo faces in naming his starting Squad. Certainly the depth varies from position to position, but alongside considerable experience, judged by caps, there are exciting prospects in many positions that make the juices run.
This is the season I’d like to see players improve to the point that they firmly nail down the back-up positions, Russell at wing, Osborne at full-back, Foley at scrum-half, Clarkson at THP, Boyle or Milne at LHP and Deeny, Soroka, CO’T or even Spicer in second-row.
Undoubtedly, getting adequate game time will be the biggest challenge for most of these players. AIL selections should provide part of the solution and this could also ensure support for the Club game, which has developed and nurturing many of these prospects from an early age.
No perfect solutions, but a season full of interesting challenges.
@Des Lamont: I think Murray just started to get tired towards the end of a 4th mammoth squad assessment! The pattern was definitely by caps through the last 3 articles and mostly through this with the exception of 1 small error (James Lowe on 81 ahead of Jimmy O’Brien on 82) and 1 big one (Harry Byrne ahead of Ciaran Frawley).
Is Synman out to 2025?
@Kingshu: understand he’s in rehab in Dublin expected to return for the 2nd or 3rd URC game , so early October..
@Kingshu: Dan Sheehan is reported to be out until 2025… Snyman a coupke of weeks from now.
Their B team would beat the other provinces
@Jacob: they love being a big fish in a small fond alright :)
@Jacob: yet their A-team can’t beat the Bulls when it matters not to mention the big French sides. A mix of A and B got best by Munster in a semi also season b4 last. Great depth of quality in the squad and definitely good enough to win either or both URC and CC but there also seems to be something wrong with their mentality or approach. I think they’ll fall short again this season.
@Jacob: Ulster home and away, suggests otherwise.
@Jacob: but they go to South Africa and get stuffed. Those two results destroyed Leinster’s season last year.